history | The Hare Krishna Movement

A Crisis in Leadership

16 Jul 2026 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Bhagavad-gita, Bhagavad-gita As It Is 1972 Edition, Book Changes, Book Distribution, Books by Srila Prabhupada, Locanananda das, Uncategorized Tags: ac-bhaktivedanta, as it is, Bhagavad-gita, Book Changes, hinduism, history, India, Krishna, Krishna Consciousness, Krsna, philosophy, spirituality, Srila Prabhupada

…One issue that many find shocking is the extent to which Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is was edited without having been authorized by His Divine Grace, Srila Prabhupada. He was never a fan of extensive editing of any of his published works. What’s more, the over-edited edition published in 1983 removed thirty-two color pages that Srila Prabhupada insisted be included in his great opus. Three of those eliminated color pages were of the predecessor acaryas, namely Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, Srila Gaura Kishora Das Babaji Maharaja and Srila Thakur Bhaktivinode.

Even the pocket Gita printed in India included all of the color plates found in the Macmillan edition.

If you are just hearing about this for the first time, please contact the GBC representative in your area and humbly request that this offense be rectified with the next printing. Doing so will attract Srila Prabhupada’s blessings. Do not fear when the cause is just.

A CRISIS IN LEADERSHIP

by Locan Ananda dasa

Many followers of Srila Prabhupada’s teachings have been calling for the worldwide reformation of the leadership of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. The charge being made is that leaders and managers need to adhere more closely to the specific instructions of our Founder Acarya. There should be greater vigilance and the immediate correction of inappropriate behavior on the part of errant leaders.

Appearance of Lord Ramacharya (Rama Navami)

26 Mar 2026 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Avatars, Rama, Rama Navami, Uncategorized Tags: appearance-day-of-lord-rama, books, haunaman, hinduism, history, Laxman, Lord Rama, Rama Navami, Ramayana, Sita, spirituality, Srila Prabhupada, Srimad Bhagavatam

So today marks the appearance day of Lord Ramacandra, otherwise known as Rama-Navami. We honor it with a full day fast, followed by an nice vegetarian feast. It is nice to remember the Lord by extra chanting of His holy names, and with readings throughout the day of the glorious pastimes of the Lord.

Ramachandra, or Lord Rama, is one of Krishna’s many avatars on earth. He appeared during a previous age, Treta-yuga, and ruled as emperor of the world. A chronicle of His activities is presented extensively in the epic Ramayana, and concisely in the ninth canto of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, a biography of Krishna’s many incarnations.

Ramachandra’s life is considered to be exemplary in every way. Followers of India’s Vedic culture see Him as the ideal king, the most powerful warrior, and the most faithful husband. It is said that He ruled His kingdom just as a loving father cares for his children. Lord Rama’s nobility, integrity, decency, and virtue are spoken of with reverence even today.

He appeared as the eldest son of Maharaja Dasarath, along with brothers Bharata, Lakshmana, and Shatrughna—also incarnations of the Supreme Person. He married Sita devi, daughter of King Janaka, after breaking the bow of Siva in the contest for Sita’s hand. On the day of Ramachandra’s coronation, however, due to royal intrigue, He was banished to the forest for fourteen years, and Lakshmana and Sita accompanied Him there.

Ravana, king of Lanka, kidnapped Sita when Rama was absent from Their forest home. Subsequently, Rama and Lakshmana organized an army of forest-dwelling simians, vanaras—including the great devotee Hanuman— to attack Lanka. He then killed Ravana, rescued Sita, and triumphantly returned to His capital city, Ayodhya.

“In the eighteenth incarnation, the Lord appeared as King Rāma. In order to perform some pleasing work for the demigods, He exhibited superhuman powers by controlling the Indian Ocean and then killing the atheist King Rāvaṇa, who was on the other side of the sea.” (Srimad Bhagavatam 1.3.22)

Full text and purport

Protectors of the Cow

26 Jan 2026 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in Uncategorized Tags: ahimsa, animal slaughter, asia, Cow Protection, history, Japan, non violence, thou shall not kill, tokyo, travel

The following article I found very interesting. It is very informative, and is worth reprinting here.

The Samurai: Protectors of the Cow
by Jahnava Nitai das

If I were to tell you, that once, no other country, save India, revered the cow as much as Japan, I could understand your disbelief. Today, we think of Japan as a meat-eating culture. However, this image is a product of the last 150 years of American influence. The traditional Japanese culture held the cow as the most sacred animal. What follows next is the true story of among the greatest protectors of the cow – the Samurai.

In The Footsteps Of The Buddha

When Buddhism left India for the Far East it had a profound influence on all of the countries it encountered including China, Korea and Japan. Buddhism entered Japan around the year 552 A.D. In April 675 A.D. the Japanese Emperor Tenmu banned the consumption of all meat from four legged animals including cows, horses, dogs, and monkeys, as well as domestic birds such as chickens and roosters. Each succeeding emperor would periodically reinforce this ban until by the 10th Century all meat eating had been eliminated.

In mainland China and Korea the Buddhist monks adhered to the principle of ‘ahimsa’ or non-violence in their eating habits but theses strictures were not placed on the population as a whole. In Japan, however, the Emperor was very strict in guiding his subjects towards the Buddha’s teachings of non-violence. The killing of mammals was considered extremely sinful, birds moderately sinful, and fish somewhat sinful. The Japanese did eat whale, which today we know are mammals, but at the time were considered very large fish.

The Japanese also made a distinction between animals reared in the household and wild animals. To kill a wild animal such as a bird was sinful. However, to kill an animal raised from birth was considered abominable – tantamount to killing a member of the family. As such, the diet of the Japanese was mostly rice, noodles, fish, and on occasion wild fowl.

Building a Sacred Digital Archive for the Next 10,000 Years

09 Jan 2026 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, philosophy, Prabhupada Libary, Prabhupadanugas, Spiritual Master, Spriritual Master, Sri Caitanya-Caritamrta, Srila Prabhupada, Srila Prabhupada Conversations, Srila Prabhupada vani, Srila Prabhupada's Accomplishments, Srila Prabhupada's Books, Srimad Bhagavatam, The Hare Krishna Movement, Transcendental Knowledge, Uncategorized, veda base Tags: ac-bhaktivedanta, bhaktivedanta-archive, history, philosophy, prabhupada, prabhupada.io, religion, spirituality, Srila Prabhupada, Swami Prabhupada, writing

Sometime ago, I ran across this wonderful web site Prabhupada.io. It has it all, images, text, conversations, lectures, letters, etc. It is truly an Archive of Srila Prabhupada’s Original unedited words. Highly Recommended!

Building a Sacred Digital Archive for the Next 10,000 Years

The path to creating Prabhupada.io began with a simple recognition: Srila Prabhupada’s teachings are not merely books—they are eternal law books that deserve preservation and accessibility for millennia to come.

The Vision: A True Digital Archive

What distinguishes a true digital archive from a mere collection of files? It requires, among other things:

Comprehensive indexing that reveals the interconnected web of spiritual knowledge
Clean, searchable source texts extracted with care from the original works
Intuitive navigation that serves both newcomers and scholars
Open accessibility that removes barriers between seekers and sacred wisdom
Future-proof architecture built to endure for generations

The Gopis Enchanted by the Flute

24 Jul 2025 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in Uncategorized Tags: ac-bhaktivedanta, cowherd boys, gopis, history, India, Krishna, Krsna, Krsna Book, religion, spirituality, Srila Prabhupada, travel

Without a doubt, this is my favorite book ever. I never get tired of reading from the Krsna Book. It seems to get sweeter every time.

Krsna was very pleased with the atmosphere of the forest, where flowers bloomed and bees and drones hummed very jubilantly. While the birds, trees and branches were all looking very happy, Krsna, tending the cows and accompanied by Sri Balarama and the cowherd boys, began to vibrate His transcendental flute. After hearing the vibration, the gopis in Vrndavana remembered Him and began to talk amongst themselves about how nicely Krsna was playing His flute. When the gopis were describing the sweet vibration of Krsna’s flute’; they also remembered their pastimes with Him; thus their minds became disturbed, and they were unable to fully describe the beautiful vibrations. While discussing the transcendental vibration, they also remembered how Krsna dressed, decorated with a peacock feather on His head, just like a dancing actor, and with blue flowers pushed over His ear. His garment glowed yellow-gold, and He was garlanded with a vaijayanti necklace. Dressed in such an attractive way, Krsna filled up the holes of His flute with the nectar emanating from His lips. So they remembered Him, entering Vrndavana forest, which is always glorified by the footprints of Krsna and His friends.

The Disciplic Succession

02 Mar 2025 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in Uncategorized Tags: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, disciple, disciplic succession, guru, guru-prarmpara, history, Krishna, Krsna, science, space

The Disciplic Succession

Those who are followers of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, and read from his books with faith and conviction, are receiving Transcendental Knowledge through the disciplic succession. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ. (Bhagavad-gīta, 4.2)

1) Kṛṣṇa, 2) Brahmā, 3) Nārada; 4) Vyāsa, 5) Madhva, 6) Padmanābha, 7) Nṛhari, 8) Mādhava, 9) Akṣobhya, 10) Jayatīrtha, 11) Jñānasindhu, 12) Dayānidhi, 13) Vidyānidhi, 14) Rājendra, 15) Jayadharma, 16) Puruṣottama, 17) Brahmaṇyatīrtha, 18) Vyāsatīrtha, 19) Lakṣmīpati, 20) Mādhavendra Purī, 21) Īśvara Purī, (Nityānanda, Advaita), 22) Lord Caitanya, 23) Rūpa (Svarūpa, Sanātana), 24) Raghunātha, Jīva, 25) Kṛṣṇadāsa, 26) Narottama, 27) Viśvanātha, 28) (Baladeva) Jagannātha, 29) Bhaktivinode, 30) Gaurakiśora, 31) Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, 32) His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is 1972 Edition
By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Chapter Four, Text 1-2

Sri-guru-carana-padma (Sri Guru Puja)

28 Feb 2025 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in Uncategorized Tags: A.C. Bhaktivedanta, guru-puja, history, Krishna, science, space, sri-guru, Srila Prabhupada

This is a very nice song composed by Narottama dasa Thakura, which is sung daily in all of the Hare Krishna Temples around the world. What is interesting about transcendental sound vibration, is that it never gets old. This song is as relishable today, as it was 50 years ago. Actually even more relishable, as the meaning of the words become more and more realized.

The lotus feet of our spiritual master are the only way by which we can attain pure devotional service. I bow to his lotus feet with great awe and reverence. By his grace one can cross the ocean of material suffering and obtain the mercy of Krsna

. My only wish is to have my consciousness purified by the words emanating from his lotus mouth. Attachment to his lotus feet is the perfection that fulfills all desires.

He opens my darkened eyes and fills my heart with transcendental knowledge. He is my Lord birth after birth. From him ecstatic prema emanates; by him ignorance is destroyed. The Vedic scriptures sing of his character.

Our spiritual master is the ocean of mercy, the friend of the poor, and the lord and master of the devotees. O master! Be merciful unto me. Give me the shade of your lotus feet. Your fame is spread all over the three worlds.

Full song with synonyms;

Tyranny and Tyrannical Rule

31 Oct 2024 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in Robert Reich, Tyranny Tags: American democracy, constitution, freedom, government, history, political season, Politics, Robert Reich, The Hare Krishna Movement, tryannical rule, Tyranny

With all the political discussion going on this election year, I have been paying attention to some of the language. There are some words being used that I think I know, you know, words, we heard before, think we understand, but never actually took the time to look up in dictionary. Words like tyrant, autocracy, totalitarianism, liberality, etc. So this morning I took some time to look up the definition of some of these words. I began with the word “Tyranny”.

Dictionary definition

tyr-ran-ny

noun: tyranny; plural noun: tyrannies

cruel and oppressive government or rule.

Similar:

absolutism, absolute power, autocracy, dictatorship, undemocratic rule, reign of terror, totalitarianism, Fascism, oppression, suppression, repression, subjugation, enslavement, authoritarianism, high-handedness, imperiousness, bullying, harshness, strictness, severity, cruelty, brutality, ruthlessness, injustice.

Opposite:

democracy, liberality

Simple definition: a government in which all power is in the hands of a single ruler. 2. : harsh, cruel, and severe government or conduct. 3. : a tyrannical act.